Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-24-Speech-3-054"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2007-10-24"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:EU-Russia Summit (debate)2
dcterms:Language	"nl"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20071024.5.3-054"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2007-10-24-Speech-3-0552
lpv:speaker	lp:Bart Staes2
lpv:spokenAs	substitute; Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia (2004-09-15--2009-07-13)3 unknown; Groen (2004-07-20--2009-07-13)3 member; G/EFA (2004-07-20--2009-07-13)3 substitute; ENVI (2007-01-31--2009-07-13)3 substitute; Temporary Committee on Climate Change (2007-05-10--2009-02-04)3 member; Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (2004-09-15--2009-07-13)3 substitute; REGI (2007-01-31--2009-07-13)3 member; CONT (2007-01-31--2009-07-13)3
lpv:translated text	". Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen. Minister, you said in your introduction that relations with Russia are good, or anyway better than is reported in the international press. Minister, are you living on Mars? Are you living on Venus? Do you dare to tell the Russians what matters, or is the European Union for you ultimately just about money and naked commerce? Is that more important to you than democracy and human rights? Let us not mince words: Russia is sliding down the slippery slope to becoming a full-blown dictatorship with a strong leader: a strong leader who will not tolerate any protest and who deploys his secret FSB police whenever he thinks it necessary; a leader who will not give up power under any condition and who will use all kind of trickery to keep his hands on the reins of power after the parliamentary elections in December and the presidential elections in March. Russia, Minister, is evolving into a closed society where the ruling regime would prefer not to allow anyone to look over its shoulders. I do not want to confine myself to theoretical considerations. The reality is that human rights in Russia are constantly under pressure and the state of democracy there is lamentable. The reality is that freedom of speech and press freedom are succumbing to a strict self-censorship. The recently passed law on extremism can easily be used to gag independent journalists and political opponents. The reality is that the Russian regime sees a strong and independent civil society as undesirable and that the position of NGOs is coming under severe pressure due to very restrictive legislation. The reality is, Minister, that free elections are utopia there. Only those who are tolerated by the regime can take part. The ‘Other Russia’ coalition united around Gary Kasparov, for instance, has been stopped from taking part in the imminent parliamentary elections. To conclude, Minister, the situation in Chechnya may not be a topical issue in politics any more but the reality there is still extremely worrying. People are still being murdered, people are being picked up and detained illegally, people are being blackmailed; kidnappings are still a daily occurrence and torture is standard practice. That is the reality in Russia, Minister, and I hope that you will remember this when you speak to Mr Putin at the end of this week."@en1

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